Justice News

Fort Wayne Man Sentenced to 22 Months Imprisonment

FORT WAYNE – Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Indiana, Clifford D. Johnson, announces that Dean Zimmerman, age 48, of Fort Wayne, Indiana, was sentenced before United States District Court Judge Theresa Springmann on his plea of guilty to the charge of conspiracy to commit mail fraud.

Zimmerman was sentenced to 22 months imprisonment followed by 1 year of supervised release. Restitution was ordered payable to the victims, United Technologies Electronic Controls, Inc. and PayPal, Inc. the total sum of $346,753.33, and a 1 million dollar money judgement was also entered. Additionally, 103 items, which include sums of U.S. currency and various items of property (ie computers, jewelry, coins, firearms and vehicles) were ordered forfeited as proceeds of his criminal conduct.

According to documents filed in this case, from on or about January 1, 2014 and continuing until on or about May 17, 2016, Zimmerman conspired with his wife Linda Zimmerman to devise a scheme to obtain money through fraud by stealing property from his employer and then selling the stolen property on eBay and utilizing the United States Postal Service to deliver the stolen merchandise to unwitting buyers. Linda Zimmerman has plead guilty to the same charge, conspiracy to commit mail fraud and is awaiting sentencing.

This case was the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigations with the assistance of the Indiana State Police and the Huntington Police Department and was handled by Assistant United States Attorneys Anthony W. Geller and Stacey R. Speith.